Improvements in wireless communication technology have allowed users to easily access networks from remote locations. However, this convenience has come at a price and security has become a growing concern among customers and network providers. As wireless wide area and local area networks become more critical to core business functions, network security has become increasingly more important because of the far-reaching consequences of a breach in security. Essential, confidential business information residing on corporate networks must be easily accessible to numerous users within a corporation, while at the same time, protected from unauthorized users. When corporate networks can be wirelessly accessed from remote locations, the risks are significantly increased. Unauthorized intrusions into a corporate network can result in the theft of valuable corporate information, the corruption of files and data and/or the disruption of network service. No corporation can afford to risk such dire consequences.
Many networks that can be accessed via a wireless device employ encryption, passwords, verification of device types and other security measures to protect against access by an unauthorized third party. Other technologies and access methods can also contribute to network security. Spread spectrum technology, for example, is inherently secure, but it only provides a link level security. For infrastructure networks, manually entered keys or digital certificates may be used that are retained in the device. However, they can be compromised and they reduce the flexibility of installing new devices on the network or replacing devices already connected. Also, if communications based on the passwords, personal identification numbers (PINs) or digital certificates are intercepted during the connection process, these security measures may be bypassed by using the intercepted key exchange information.
Corporations have expressed concerns that radio systems, which are used to access corporate networks, are especially vulnerable to unauthorized users and they could jeopardize the security of confidential corporate information. A thief could easily gain unauthorized access to a corporation's private network by stealing an access radio with built in access authorization from an authorized user and using the stolen radio to log onto the network. Once logged onto the network, the unauthorized user would have unrestricted access and could change, download, destroy or infect operating systems and databases. This risk is the same for any company or government organization that operates a private or public network. Thus, the theft of an access radio and its unauthorized use to access a network's applications and/or information can seriously damage the operations of any organization.
By way of background, access radios connect a network (typically, an in-building LAN—“local area network”) to a remote networks via a radio link—where the “other end” of the radio link is often a shared radio on a central antenna. LANs are high-speed, low-error data networks covering a relatively small geographic area (up to a few thousand meters), which connect workstations, peripherals, terminals, and other devices in a single building or other geographically limited area. LAN standards specify cabling and signaling at the physical and data link layers of the Open System Interconnection (OSI) model. Ethernet, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (“FDDI”), and Token Ring are widely used LAN technologies.
A network access radio is typically connected to a LAN and communicates with other devices on the LAN, such as servers, computers and databases. The access radio also communicates via a radio link with one or more remote networks and/or devices. In addition to communicating with other devices on the LAN and remote networks and/or devices, access radios can perform radio link security (similar to the security functions performed by a router), virtual local area network (VLAN) support functionality and power and/or network management functions. However, newer access radios are typically small and, therefore, can be easily removed from the LAN and from a building by a thief. The stolen access radio could then be operated by an unauthorized user from another location to access “secure” networks and devices. Accordingly, it is easy to understand why this risk has raised serious concerns with operators of networks with wireless access.
The risks involved with the theft and unauthorized use of an access radio makes it desirable to provide a method and apparatus for enhancing security in network access radio systems that does not impede access by authorized users and provides a level of security that is not compromised by the theft or unauthorized removal of an access radio.